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Northern California
Our Story and Mission- Ever since we were old enough to drink wine, we have been frequenting winery tasting rooms throughout California. Our trips in the late 70’s involved stops at 6-8 wineries (or maybe more) in a day. My first date with my wife was a day of wine tasting in Sonoma 31 years ago. So we are experienced with this stuff. I think there are several ingredients to a satisfying Tasting Room experience. The wine has to be good for starters and generally the known wineries all put out pretty decent wine. But there are other key factors in making the experience memorable. Sometimes a classy tasting room works for us, but sometimes standing around a barrel outside does the trick. At other times it is just good service that pleases us. Certainly one of the keys is the person serving the wine. So there are a whole bunch of things that make visiting a Tasting Room a positive experience. The point of this blog is to talk about and recommend Winery Tasting Rooms where we have had good experiences.The blog was conceived after spending a weekend with my sisters who normally do not frequent wineries and running into a couple of disappointing stops.

Tuesday, November 26, 2013


J Vineyards
Sonoma, CA


In the past year we visited Rodney Strong Vineyards just off Highway 101 just south of Healdsburg.  It turns out right next to Rodney Strong is J Vineyards.  They even share part of the same driveway.  Unfortunately our plans earlier did not include going to J so when we were back in the area for a pickup at another winery we made it a point to visit J as well as Seghesio Family Vineyards, another long time established winery that we have never visited before.  Most of us are familiar with the J labeled sparkling wine but it may not be the standard sparkler we purchase for special events because we think it is too high end.  We tend to buy the Domaine Chandon or Mumm or Korbel that you can find on sale for $10.00-$15.00.  I think the sale priced J is rarely found  for less than $20.00.  Generally if we are going to spend $20.00 we’ll opt for the Roderer, mostly because we have visited Roderer in the Alexander Valley pretty much every year for the past 20 years or so.  Now that we have visited J, I think J will be a regular consideration for those not so regular special situations.
 
Entrance to J
 
 
J is actually run by the daughter of the better known Jordan Winery, known for world class Cab and Chardonnay.  Jordan is another spot that has been on our ‘must visit’ list.  J was founded by Judy Jordan who after graduating from Stanford and working at the family winery for a few years, started a winery focused on sparkling wine in 1986.  The winery moved into its present facility in 1999.  This facility previously was used to make Piper Sonoma, another sparkling wine (and bargain priced) that every year competes strongly in our annual sparkling wine tasting in January. 
 
The best time to visit a sparkling wine facility is early in the day.  We were on our way to taste Zinfandels and other reds so this was especially important this day.  The advantage of visiting a winery that specializes in sparkling wine is that since sparkling wine is usually made from Pinot Noir grapes or Chardonnay grapes they usually pour a still (regular) wine made from these grapes.  In our case we get excited about the Pinot.  At J they offer several different tasting formats.  The most basic, and the one we chose, is called the Signature Tasting.  This includes five tastes ending with the J Cuvee Brut.  This runs $20 per person.  The other tastings done in the (stand up) tasting room are called the Legacy Tasting and this comes in two formats, the all sparkler tasting or the tasting that includes the higher end wines also.  This runs $30.00.  They also have some seated tastings that come with snacks at $45 and the Bubble Room experience that costs $75.00 
 
Tasting Room
 
 
Our Signature Flight was certainly fine for us.  The tasting included a Vin Gris, a nice salmon color Pinot Gris; a perfect first taste.  Then we had the Russian River Chardonnay which was towards our liking.  We then got to taste two Pinot Noirs.  The list showed seven different Pinot’s ranging from $37.00 to $70.00.  We tasted the Russian River Pinot priced at $37.00 and a vineyard designated Misterra Pinot at $50.00.  I personally liked the standard blended Russian River Pinot which is priced pretty close to what you find out their these days.  We finished with the J Cuvee.  Of course the sparkler tasted great.  My palate, along with most folks I think registers that we are drinking a premium sparkling wine but I think sometimes does not register all the subtle differences from one premium sparkler to another.  This one though was definitely up with the better California sparklers we have tasted.
 
The facility got busier as we were there a while so arriving when it opens at 11 is a good choice.  And certainly if you went with one of the premium seated tastings you would avoid any crowd.  My choice would be to go with any one of the Signature or Legacy Tastings and you’ll be fine.  The staff, all dressed in black handled the bar nicely and were as attentive as needed.  I think when it comes to sparkling wine tasting, J is as good or better than you will find at Domaine Chadon, Domaine Carneros or Mumm. 
 
What we liked- Quality Sparkling wine as your first stop on a Sunday of wine tasting.
 
What I bought- We bought a Pinot Gris at $20 and the J Cuvee at $28.  I think you can get the Cuvee at Safeway right now for 30% off for about $20 and even as low as $17.50 when you buy six wines at a time.  It is nice to go home from the winery with that classy looking bottle with the big J on it though.
 
Vitals-
 
J Vineyards
1147 Old Redwood Highway
Healdsburg, CA  95448
(888) 594-6326
www.Jwine.com
 
 
 

 
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